Hey. So yeah... stuff. At the part at the end, you should try reading it with the song in the background. You'll know what I mean when I get there.
Oh, and to Gail, to whom I promised I would have this up last friday, I apologize. First week of school again and all that...
Indemnis are mine!
Recap; They exited the hospital just as silently as they had Rouge's room, but with a slightly different ambiance. What is that rumbling? Shadow looked to the sky. I hear thunder, but there aren't any clouds… He tapped Tail's shoulder. "Do you hear that?" Tail nodded.
"Yeah…" Suddenly, a screaming ball of metal whirled by overhead, causing them to both drop to the ground. Tails gaped as the crumpled mass collided into a building. "What the hell?!?"
Shadow stood up, brushing himself off. "Well…" He stated. "I think this definitely deserves investigation..."
As they drew closer, the earth thundered louder and louder. Tails and Shadow began to pick up the distant sound of explosions. Their pace picked up, Tails lifting off of the ground to keep up with Shadow.
What is that…? Shadow thought to himself. Various yells of battle became audible, coupled with screams.
"We're close!" Tails exclaimed, whirling around the nearest building. He quickly jumped back, instinctively pinning Shadow against the wall of the building with one hand as a car flew past the corner. "Woah!" The unoccupied car shot into the air, flying straight through the third floor of an apartment building and into a lake in the park behind it. Tails watched the car sink slowly into the depths of the lake. Wow… Shadow looked down at the fox, clearing his throat lightly to get Tails' attention. Tails looked up, smiling a little awkwardly and removing his hand from Shadow's chest. "Oh. Sorry Shadow."
Shadow leaned around the corner cautiously, pulling out his pistol. He pulled back again as a misfired tank shell blew a hole in the wall right in front of him. "Damn. There's a full out war, right in the middle of the city." Standing in the center of a circle of bullet shells of all calibers was a huge ram with a twelve foot long pole-hammer slung over one shoulder. The hammer itself was at least a foot in diameter, and had a three foot long scythe blade sticking out of the back. Shadow could see a few soldiers in not only GUN but military uniforms scattered about behind cover, tending to wounds and reloading weapons. A few tanks littered the area, all destroyed.
The ram yawned in pseudo-exhaustion. "Bah, all this work is making me a little bored. Isn't there anything fun to do in this little city?" His voice was deeper than Mor'gul's, and had a lot more haughtiness to it. Mor'gul was simply self confident, but this ram was unquestionably arrogant. A tank shell collided with the back of the ram's shoulder, exploding and making him stumble forward.
"Ha!" He stood up, brushing his thick armor off. "That didn't work the last two times, what makes you think it will now?!?" He whirled around, facing a tank that had not been brought to Shadow's attention until the blast. It fired at the ram again, who raised a hand and blocked the blast with a gauntlet. With an angry roar, the ram charged the tank with his head lowered. His neck muscles flexed powerfully, causing his plated neck armor to bulge outwards as he flicked the four ton assault vehicle into the air like a coin. It twirled at least twenty feet into the air, landing turret first atop the upturned scythe blade on his hammer. The turret crumpled as the blade stabbed right through it down to the base.
"Bah… you idiots are all about quantity. Nothing fun about fighting twenty babies." He hefted the hammer over his shoulder again, not even bothering to remove the tank. In fact, he kept it in its upside down position. Shadow could only imagine what it was like for the drivers of that particular vehicle. The ram let the hammer slide off of his shoulder again, and stepped back to hold it out in front of himself. With a grunt, he made a quick twirl and sent the tank flying. It flew a full two blocks, and exploded on the side of a skyscraper.
"Bah." The ram uttered once again. Shadow could see that like Mor'gul's chuckle, that "bah" was going to be another annoying villain habit. "Well, since it's obvious that you little babies aren't going to be causing me any real trouble, I guess it's time to move on to the civilian buildings. Maybe they can at least stand up to more than one strike!" He emphasized this declaration of intent by walking over to an old Victorian apartment complex and blowing out one wall with his hammer. The building crumbled inwards, the screams of the few un-evacuated residents almost completely drowned out by the deep rumble of crumbling mortar and stone.
Shadow pulled back around the corner as the hammer struck the building. "Tails, I need you to help the people in that rubble. Once you've gotten any and all survivors out, either join the battle or help GUN and the Military set up some sort of outpost to keep him focused on military, not civilian forces." Tails nodded as Shadow clicked off his Glock's safety lock. The black figure looked to the horizon as he raised the gun to chest level. Oh, god-damn perfect. The sun's going to set soon… Better wrap this up quick.
Tails flew around the corner while setting off his watch's emergency signal. Hopefully, within moments Sonic and the others would be primed for the fight as well. Shadow on the other hand, took this opportunity to flip around the corner and fire three slugs at the back of the ram's head. The ram twitched several times as the bullets rang off of his neck armor, before whirling around in an irritated fashion.
"Who dares provoke me!?!"
Shadow gestured in a calm wave to get the ram's attention. "I did, goat-boy."
The ram snarled a little at Shadow's rude reference to his species. "Oh, aren't you clever, little rodent. I didn't even know that you so-called "heroes" were in the area!" He smirked. "Well, more fun for me! Proper introductions first, of course. I like to let my worthy enemies know who killed them." He stabbed the handle of his pole-hammer into the ground triumphantly, as if he were marking a conquered mountain. "And today, you die by the hands of Koŕak! Fourth lord of destruction, sixth lord of the nine lords, and the man who is destined to crush this city!"
Shadow smirked right back at Koŕak. "Nice speech. Took you long enough. I am Shadow the hedgehog, and I'm just distracting you." Koŕak looked at him with a foolish expression, until he heard a loud grunt behind him. He turned in time to get Knuckle's trademark Exploding Punch right in the center of his chest armor. It threw Koŕak back with more force than any tank shell, and he hit a brick building hard enough to crack it a little.
Knuckles barked a laugh, Sonic walking up to stand next to him. "Good thing we were nearby to save you the trouble, Shadow." The echidna stated, flashing Shadow with one of his self-confident smirks.
Koŕak grunted as well as he pulled himself out of the small rut in the wall, inspecting his chest armor. There was a sizeable dent in it that may impede his breathing if he were to get worked up. "Bah…" He unclipped the armor from his shoulder. "Now, this just won't do!" He examined the armor for a few moments, before throwing the armor to the side. "I'll have to get that fixed later." He looked up at Knuckles with a glint in his eye, taking note of the patch Knuckles wore over his own. "Are you about done, or is there more?" Shadow looked over to Tails, who was dragging a man out the rubble by his collar.
"Hey Shad! We'll take it from here." Shadow turned around, once again looking at Sonic and Knuckles as Sonic called his unwanted nickname. The other hedgehog smiled and gave Shadow a thumbs-up. At this, Shadow quickly moved over with Tails to help the others. Sonic and Knuckles redirected their attention to the ram.
"I'm just getting started!" The echidna said, rolling his shoulder and cracking his knuckles.
Koŕak smiled. "Good. I'd hate to be bored." The ram barreled towards them, head lowered, as Knuckles and Sonic jumped in opposite directions to avoid the charge. As they did, Sonic balled up and delivered a quick homing attack across Koŕak's partially armored side. Likewise, Knuckles ducked down low and delivered a strike to the outside of Koŕak's leg, his sharp knuckles scratching the armor lightly. Koŕak stumbled from the multiple attacks, but seemed unfazed otherwise. He spun around with a speed belied by his girth, swinging the scythe side of his pole hammer in a wide arc. The two of them jumped up quickly, dodging the scythe with ease.
He's fast, but not that fast… This seems too easy. Sonic observed. Knuckles once again charged Koŕak, delivering a crippling blow to his ribcage. Koŕak bent inwards slightly as the blow hit, Knuckles barking out a laugh again. "HA! Who's the one who should be bored here?" The towering ram stood over the Echidna calmly, a quiet, arrogant smirk on his face.
"You shouldn't be laughing, mutt." Just then, Knuckles noticed something about his fist. Instead of touching Koŕak's abdomen, it was hovering a mere inch away from the ram's brown fur. It seemed to be suspended by a golden brown energy floating just around Knuckles' knuckles.
"Huh?" Just as this declaration of confusion left the echidna's mouth, a pulse resonated from the ram's body and threw him back. More of the strange energy engulfed the ram before fading out of view.
Koŕak pseudo-yawned once again, shouldering his hammer with a small sauntering movement. "What, you thought I was all muscle and nothing more? You can't hit me, because the sheer force of my spirit repels you." More of the golden brown essence exuded from his body, creating an impenetrable aura. Sonic and Knuckles exchanged glances.
Sonic pulled out his copy of Tail's communicators. "We'd better get a hold of some other people for this, just in case…" He flicked the small device open, but had to jump out of the way to avoid an attempt of crushing him flat with the hammer. "Woah!" The smashing motion of the hammer quickly turned into a swipe, following the hedgehog as Koŕak changed the attack's direction with a grunt.
"Stop… moving!" Sonic touched the ground again just in time to jump out of the way of a third swing. Knuckles tried to make his way around the ram, occasionally ducking under some flying rubble thrown up from the pavement when Koŕak hit it. He looked around at the various soldiers, who were just watching in awe. A few of them probably had never seen them fighting before. He gestured towards one, getting his attention. Through a series of hand signals, Knuckles tried to convey that he wanted the soldier to shoot Koŕak in the side to distract him. The soldier seemed to understand, and followed through appropriately. The bullets didn't even make it past the aura, but the sound caused Koŕak to turn away from Knuckles just enough.
With a roar, the echidna jumped onto his back and started hammering away at the back of Koŕak's head and neck plates. "Sonic, go!" Sonic quickly rolled up into a ball, gathering kinetic energy as he spun in place on the ground.
Koŕak flailed about wildly in an attempt to get the small red figure off of his head, but his shoulders were too armored and his arms too muscular to reach him. "GET OFF!" Sonic released his charge, slamming into Koŕak's exposed chest. Koŕak was too distracted to maintain his aura, and Sonic tore right through it. The three of them were thrown back into the same wall that Koŕak had hit before, and it crumbled on top of them.
Sonic jumped back triumphantly. "Whew… dusty!" He said, waving away the dust in the air from the crumbled mortar. Koŕak slowly raised himself out of the hole, a tiny bit of blood staining his fur around his mouth.
"Bah…" He turned around and grabbed Knuckles quickly, who seemed disoriented. "Looks like your friend hit his head too." Knuckles groggily blinked a few times as he regained consciousness, before Koŕak sent him flying towards Sonic. They collided heavily, Sonic grunting painfully as they rolled across the ground. Koŕak stood, using his hammer to pull himself up. "Nice try though." He smirked at them, and they quickly untangled themselves. All three of them were breathing through their mouths a little, but they weren't very worn out. Koŕak raised his hammer over his head. "Well, it's nice to see that there are at least some people competent here!" He dropped the hammer, cracking his knuckles through his gauntlets. "Shall we?"
"I think not, Koŕak." The three of them turned in surprise at the sound of the voice. It was an averaged size character of unknown species or pedigree. He seemed to be canine, but had feline elements as well. He had a childish smile on his face, and his eyes showed no anger or hatred. Just a strange innocent contentment.
Knuckles looked at the character curiously. Who the hell…? Who's side is he on? The figure stood atop the handrail to a building walkway just ten feet away from the three, wreathed in a thick dull green robe. The creature itself was a plain brown, though you could hardly tell since he wore the hood of his robe up. Through the hood, he could just barely make out his basic facial shape and two bright green eyes.
He uncrossed his arms, revealing very loose sleeves and bandaged hands and forearms. The bandages were a little bloodstained, telling the observer that he had recently suffered severe injuries to the arms and those bandages weren't there for looks. "Koŕak, you ran out of time." He pointed at the moon. They hadn't even noticed, but the sun had set at least half an hour ago. "The council just sent me to tell you, since you don't have the proper clearance to continue at night."
Koŕak snorted angrily. "Indemnis, always the council dog."
The one known as Indemnis laughed and scratched the back of his head, the look on his face like an embarrassed little boy. "Ehe…"
Koŕak snorted again, following up with his annoying trademark noise. "Bah…" He turned to the two heroes. "Fine, I guess we'll have to finish this up later…" Koŕak slowly stomped off after Indemnis, who hopped off of the rail lightly with a tiny laugh and a happy smile.
Sonic raised a hand lightly. "Hey, what makes you think that you're going anywhere?"
Indemnis stopped laughing, his laid back stare directing itself towards Sonic. "What makes you think you can stop us?" He giggled childishly. "Koŕak, maybe, but not both of us at once!" He smiled, and his eyes glinted slightly. "You should be happy that we're pulling back. Take your wounded and celebrate your victory." Sonic was a little confused as to why Indemnis seemed to be encouraging their morale, instead of trying some sort of scare tactic. Maybe he wasn't as strong as he was saying, and was trying to bluff them. As if to emphasize this, the creature took a step back and slipped right on to his rear end.
He got up quickly, embarrassed by his clumsiness and rubbing his rear lightly. "Ow!"
Knuckles took a few steps forward. "you're not going anywh-"
He cut off as Sonic put a hand on his shoulder."Nah, he's right Knuckles. We should let them go and just tend to the humans. Otherwise, we're taking one step closer to dropping to their level."
Indemnis nodded politely to Sonic, lightly gripping Koŕak's forearm and pushing him away. "Thank you for understanding!"
Knuckles watched the two of them go slowly. "That was weird…"
Amy loved to watch the sun set. Today, she had Sonicteam mostly to herself since everyone was checking on Rouge or something. Someone had to stay here to keep an eye on Tikal, who was slowly getting more fragile. So here she was, staring out the window of her room to watch the sunset, all alone. Sometimes, she worried it would stay that way; alone. She knew Sonic had a bit of a crush on her now, but something just always was telling her that it wasn't meant to be. It made her sad sometimes, but she knew there was something about Sonic she didn't know that just made it impossible for him to ever like her as much as she did him. Even so, she would still have him and her other friends to keep her company. As long as she had that, she could get by, but sunsets were always just a little bittersweet.
She stood there for an hour, just watching the sun's glow wane little by little. She didn't hear anyone come in, so she assumed that Sonic was still visiting with Rouge. Tikal had fallen asleep long ago. Her sleep schedule was getting really weird. She'd go without sleep for four or five days, then sleep for eighteen or so hours. And that was just this week. It was completely unpredictable. She said it was because falling asleep scared her now, because she always had dreams. Amy could understand that to a certain degree.
When the sun finally set, she went about getting ready for bed. She was finally ready forty five minutes later, hair still a little wet from her evening shower and dressed in pajama tops and bottoms. Unfortunately, her mind was still racing as she crawled under her covers. She was thinking about her old apartment in the city, about Cream, about Tikal, about everything that came to mind. She sat up with an irritated sigh. "Well, this is getting nowhere."
She looked at her clock. It was only eight thirty anyway. Even so, she had had a late night the night before, what with Rouge and all. She should be exhausted. With a flick of her wrist, she turned on the radio in her alarm clock and settled down to read a little.
…and that was "While My Guitar Gently Weeps", performed by the Beatles. Now we have a slightly less international hit for you, "Mr. Sandman" performed by the chordettes. This is KSSC, and you're listening to the golden age…
Amy sighed again, her hand inches away from her lamp. "Oh, rub it in why dontcha. As if the fact that I'm not sleeping isn't bad enough, they've gotta be playing this…"
Bung bung bung bung bung bung bung bung bung bung bung bung bung…
The sound of the song was actually very relaxing. She could feel her eyes drooping a little, and set her book back down next to the unused lamp.
Mr. Sandman… bring me a Dream…
Make him the cutest, that I've ever seen.
Give him two lips, like roses and clooover…
Then tell him that his lonesome nights are over.
Sandman… I'm so alone.
Don't have nobody, to caall my own…
So please turn on your magic beeeaam…
Mr. Sandman, bring me a dream.
She was out cold. Her blankets were a little loose, but she was sleeping comfortably with a small smile on her face.
Bung bung bung bung bung bung bung bung bung bung bung bung bung bung bung bung…
Mr. Saandmaaannn… Bring me a Dreeaam…
Make him the cutest, that I've ever seen.
A creak echoed through the room, causing her to shift a little.
Give him the wooord, that I'm not a rover…
And tell him that his lonesome niiights are over…
A dark, ominous figure slowly slid out of the shadows, the ringing of a blade echoing quietly though the air.
Saandmaaannn… I'm so alooone…
Mor'gul smiled quietly to himself, no sign apparent on how he entered the room. He held his dark sword over his head ominously, the blade ringing in glee.
Don't have nobody to call my own…
So please turn on your magic beeeaam…
Mr. Sandman, bring me a dream.
Bung bung bung bung bung bung bung bung bung bung bung bung bung bung bung bung…
He leaned in closer, using one hand to lower himself onto the side of her bed silently. Still holding the blade aloft, he leaned in so that his muzzle was just tickling her ear… and started singing.
Mr. Sandman…
Yes?
Bring us a dream…
Give him a paaair of eyes, with a "come hither" gleam…
Give him a looonely heart, like Pagliacci…
And lots of wavy hair like Liberace.
Mr. Sandman, Someone to hold…
The sound of his voice was starting to discomfort her, and her eyes flickered lightly behind her eyelids. He smiled, Mordreth slowly floating down to her chest.
…Would be so peachy, before we're too old…
"I want you to know…" His voice was in a whisper, as if he were afraid to wake her. "You are not my next target. Your time will come, but until then…"
So please turn on your magic beam… Mr. Sandman
Bring us, Please Please Please … Mr. Sandman
"I condemn you." His blade flickered, and a small cut appeared on the inside of her arm. She flinched and whimpered quietly, her eyes flickering wildly behind her eyelids now.
*Bwoo*, *Bwoo*…
He stood up, chuckling as he disappeared into the shadows. Amy began to twitch and whimper, mumbling worriedly to herself. Suddenly, her back arched, and she screamed in horror.
Briiinggg uus aaaaaa dreeeeaaaaammmm…
That's right, another cliffhanger. HAHAHAH! Tune in next time to find out what the feck he did to Amy.
